Night Comes On – English Lyrics

• By: Leonard Cohen
• Album: Various Positions

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

♪ I went down to the place ♪

♪ Where I knew she lay waiting ♪

♪ Under the marble and the snow ♪

♪ I said, "Mother I'm frightened ♪

♪ The thunder and the lightning ♪

♪ I'll never come through this alone" ♪

♪ She said, "I'll be with you ♪

♪ My shawl wrapped around you ♪

♪ My hand on your head when you go" ♪

♪ And the night came on ♪

♪ It was very calm ♪

♪ I wanted the night to go on and on ♪

♪ But she said, "Go back, go back to the world" ♪

♪ We were fightin' in Egypt ♪

♪ When they signed this agreement ♪

♪ That nobody else had to die ♪

♪ There was this terrible sound ♪

♪ My father went down ♪

♪ With a terrible wound in his side ♪

♪ He said, "Try to go on ♪

♪ Take my books, take my gun ♪

♪ Remember, my son, how they lied" ♪

♪ And the night comes on ♪

♪ It's very calm ♪

♪ I'd like to pretend that my father was wrong ♪

♪ But you don't want to lie, not to the young ♪

♪ We were locked in this kitchen ♪

♪ I took to religion ♪

♪ And I wondered how long she would stay ♪

♪ I needed so much ♪

♪ To have nothing to touch ♪

♪ I've always been greedy that way ♪

♪ But my son and my daughter ♪

♪ Climbed out of the water ♪

♪ Crying, "Papa, you promised to play" ♪

♪ And they lead me away ♪

♪ To the great surprise ♪

♪ It's "Papa, don't peek, Papa, cover your eyes" ♪

♪ And they hide, they hide in the world ♪

♪ Now I look for her always ♪

♪ I'm lost in this calling ♪

♪ I'm tied to the threads of some prayer ♪

♪ Saying, "When will she summon me ♪

♪ When will she come to me ♪

♪ What must I do to prepare" ♪

♪ When she bends to my longing ♪

♪ Like a willow, like a fountain ♪

♪ She stands in the luminous air ♪

♪ And the night comes on ♪

♪ It's very calm ♪

♪ I lie in her arms, she says, "When I'm gone ♪

♪ I'll be yours, yours for a song" ♪

♪ Now the crickets are singing ♪

♪ The vesper bells ringing ♪

♪ The cat's curled asleep in his chair ♪

♪ I'll go down to Bill's Bar ♪

♪ I can make it that far ♪

♪ And I'll see if my friends are still there ♪

♪ Yes, and here's to the few ♪

♪ Who forgive what you do ♪

♪ And the fewer who don't even care ♪

♪ And the night comes on ♪

♪ It's very calm ♪

♪ I want to cross over, I want to go home ♪

♪ But she says, "Go back, go back to the world" ♪